Virtual reality goggles could replace pills for procedure pain
NCT ID NCT05289999
First seen Jul 01, 2026 · Last updated Jul 02, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study investigates whether wearing a virtual reality headset during epidural injections can lower pain and anxiety in people with nerve root pain (radiculopathy). Participants receive two injections, each with the headset, and researchers measure anxiety levels and pain scores. The goal is to see if this simple, non-drug technique improves the experience of a common but stressful procedure.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- virtual reality headset
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a drug-free way to ease pain and anxiety during common medical procedures.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage study with only 70 participants, so results may not apply to everyone. The effect may be small or no better than standard care.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 70 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2022
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Adult patient (age ≥ 18 years) * Hospitalized in a day-hospitalization department at the General Hospital of Le Mans * For whom a diagnosis of radiculalgia with a duration of less than 6 months is made, for which the imaging is compatible with the symptoms according to the clinician's interpretation * For whom the indication of at least 2 epidural injections by the way of the sacrococcygeal hiatus is retained * Having never experienced an epidural injection through the sacrococcygeal hiatus * Patient able and willing to answer the auto-administered surveys * Person affiliated or beneficiary of a social security * Free, informed and written consent signed by the participant and the investigator (at the latest on the day of inclusion and before any examination required by the research) after oral and written information Exclusion Criteria: * Patient with comorbidity of epilepsy * Patient with a contraindication to performing epidural injections through the sacrococcygeal hiatus * Patient suffering from blindness and / or deafness * Person with a known significant intolerance towards the use of screens and / or virtual reality devices * Patient receiving benzodiazepines and / or other sedative treatment * Patient with a known depressive disease followed by a psychiatrist * Pregnant, breastfeeding or parturient woman * Person deprived of liberty by judicial or administrative decision * Person under forced psychiatric care * Person subject to legal protection * Person unable to express consent * Patient who had participated in an interventional study during the last 30 days * Severely impaired physical and / or mental health which, according to the investigator, may affect the compliance of the study participant
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Centre Hospitalier Du Mans
RECRUITINGLe Mans, 72000, France
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